December 3-21
1a Inverness Place, Roath
AiR Catherine Lewis
Catherine will be in 1a to make a wellspace for slow making and recovery; it will also house her urban ink making lab, using local well water and materials found and gifted whilst working and walking between well sites and the space.
Catherine’s artwork combines a range of media and processes but its making is always driven by a passion to create without burden, to seek a simple and sympathetic purity of process. Using traditional skills that could easily be lost if not perpetuated, she works with found and discarded objects, such as rusted hinges, paint scraps, conkers and berries, to make and sell her own natural inks, batch bottled and in the form of drawings, prints and functional textiles. Through residencies and exhibitions, she makes work that is site-specific, temporary and ephemeral.
She has previously contributed to work around the closure of Whitchurch Hospital and last year was the first artist in residence for the Llandough hospital Orchard project. Alongside her own making, she facilitates workshops where participants make dyes, inks, drawings and botanical prints. She explores and documents habitats, mapping the experience, making and engaging with nature and wildlife in both urban and rural settings.
Whilst at 1a Inverness Place she will be making work in this way, whilst also exploring her current recovery from breast cancer. She is now a regular patient at Llandough hospital.
“I see the residency as being about making a sanctuary, a safe space, a community of wellness, a place of growth, inspiration and transformation. In making a well-space I hope to promote a personal therapeutic process, improving well-being through the combination of meaningful activity and connection with a place and the people. I’ll offer a place to gather, grow, learn, share and be inspired; a place where people gain a new connection to the urban landscape, to work in harmony with it, slowly embracing the natural and creating a sense of personal peace and well-being within the community”.
The weekend before the residency Catherine hopes to perform a tree dressing at the sites of Ffynnon Bren on Albany Road and St. Dene’s Well at the top of Roath Park,with friends who have helped in her current recovery.
The spring at Roath Park is also known as Ffynnon Llandennis, was one of a number of wells in Cardiff which were considered to be holy and endowed with powers of healing.
‘Within the northernmost area of Roath Park is a beautiful well. It rises out of the soil with great force, and immediately forms a pool of considerable size, which is overhung with trees, and teems with aquatic growths of various kinds. The scene is one of wild and romantic beauty…’ (John Hobson Mathews, 19C city archivist).
The well-tree dressing echoes the clootie wells that are places of pilgrimage in Celtic areas. Strips of white cloth or rags are tied to the branches of the tree as part of a healing ritual. The pieces of cloth are dipped in the water of the well and then tied to a branch while a prayer or intention is said to a goddess or nature spirit. The tradition is to wash the affected part of the body with the wet rag and then tie the washing-rag on the branch; as the rag disintegrates over time, the ailment is supposed to fade away as well.
She invites visitors to bring ink ingredients to her and also donations of old bottles to store ingredients and the inks.
- Anyone affected by breast cancer is invited to the +wellspace+ on Tuesday 11th December, to share conversations and join in with the making.
- On Friday 21stmid-winter eve, there will be a gathering to hear about the +wellspace+ and the making process that will evolve from time and collaborations within and without the space. This will also be a chance to share, feast, write, play and draw with the inks.
- Other days open tbc – follow Instagram, the Made in Roath blog or email Catherine if you plan to visit: well@catlewis.com
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